The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to monitoring physiological parameters using an indicator dilution analysis.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, medical practitioners often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring patient characteristics. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modem medicine. For example, clinicians may wish to monitor a patient's blood flow to assess cardiac function. In particular, clinicians may wish to monitor a patient's cardiac output. The determination of cardiac output may provide information useful for the diagnosis and treatment of various disease states or patient abnormalities. For example, in cases of pulmonary hypertension, a clinical response may include a decrease in cardiac output.
Accordingly, there are a variety of clinical techniques that may be used for analyzing cardiac output or other hemodynamic parameters. In one technique known as indicator dilution (e.g., thermodilution, indicator dye dilution, lithium dilution, etc.), an indicator, such as a dye or saline solution, is injected into a circulatory system of a patient, and information about certain hemodynamic parameters may be determined by assessing the dilution of the indicator after mixing with the bloodstream. For example, a measure of cardiac output may be determined based on a decrease in blood temperature over a period of time resulting from the injected indicator. In some instances, it may be desirable to determine the start and end time of the injection, which may be used in the calculation of cardiac output.